Around 2006, Steve Ballmer, the then CEO of Microsoft, came to Wharton for a talk.
After he finished his talk, a student asked why Microsoft was not as innovative as Apple (or something to that effect).
Ballmer said that Microsoft was a 95% market share company and cannot think like Apple (a 5% market share company). He seemed quite smug about the head start they had.
But what he probably ignored was that Apple was innovating and growing. And when the rate of change is positive, ultimately, you prevail — there is no other way.
What I am saying is plainly obvious, yet, we all seem to underestimate it.
Be it in our companies or in our own lives, no matter how far behind you feel you are — if you keep moving, there is no distance you can’t cover.
Just give it enough time.
– Rajan